The Last Best Hope Podcast: New Series Up Now!

We are excited to announce that the RAI’s podcast, The Last Best Hope?, has returned for its 13^th season. Frequently in the UK top ten most downloaded history podcasts, The Last Best Hope? explores how history has shaped the American present. Is America – as Abraham Lincoln once claimed – the last best hope of Earth?

Coming up in this series: an exploration of how big money is shaping politics, the political power of ‘evangelicals’, and the legacy of Eugene V. Debs. And, in the run-up to the presidential election, we take a deep dive into the four key US elections that have shaped the 2024 race:

• Bill Clinton’s generational-shift victory in 1992,
• the drama of 2000 in which Bush beat Gore even while losing the popular vote,
• the election of the nation’s first black president in 2008,
• and the norm-shattering rise of reality TV star Donald Trump in 2016 one, of the biggest political upsets in US history.

We'll explore the campaigns and the characters and the underlying political dynamics which has created our contemporary age of polarization.

So join RAI Director Adam Smith and guests – Bruce Schulman, EJ Dionne Jr., Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Allison Duerk, Michael Kazin, Patrick Andelic, Brody Mullins, Ursula Hackett, Dan Rowe, Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, David Campbell – wherever you get your podcasts. Search for “The Last Best Hope”. Also available here on our website.